Human beings are the only species in nature to havedeveloped an elaborate division of labor between strangers. Even something assimple as buying a shirt depends on an astonishing web of interaction andorganization that spans the world. But unlike that other uniquely humanattribute, language, our ability to cooperate with strangers did not evolvegradually through our prehistory. Only 10,000 years ago--a blink of an eye inevolutionary time--humans hunted in bands, were intensely suspicious ofstrangers, and fought those whom they could not flee. Yet since the dawn ofagriculture we have refined the division of labor to the point where, today, welive and work amid strangers and depend upon millions more. Every time wetravel by rail or air we entrust our lives to individuals we do not know. Whatinstitutions have made this possible?

“All the information workersobserved experienced a highlevel of fragmentation in theexecution of their activities.People averaged about threeminutes on a task and about twominutes on any electronic deviceor paper document beforeswitching tasks.”

“…of the 100 entities with the largestGross National Product (GNP), abouthalf were multi-national corporations(MNCs)… The MNCs do not exist ontraditional maps.”

Alfred Chandler and Bruce Mazlish, authorsofLeviathans

“The corporation has evolvedconstantly during its long history. TheMNC of the late twentieth century …were very different from the greattrading enterprises of the 1700s. Thetype of business organization that isnow emerging--

“Cities are the definingartifacts of civilisation. All theachievements and failings ofhumanity are here… Weshape the city, and then itshapes us. Today, almost halfthe global population lives incities.”

“Understanding economic changeincluding everything from the rise ofthe Western world to the demise ofthe Soviet Union requires that we casta net much broader than purelyeconomic change because it is aresult of changes in (1) the quantityand quality of human beings; (2) inthe stock of human knowledgeparticularly as applied to humancommand over nature; and (3) theinstitutional framework that definesthe deliberate incentive structure of asociety.”

“Wherever there are phenomena, there can be a science to describeand explain those phenomena. Thus, the simplest (and correct)answer to “What is botany?” is, “Botany is the study of plants.” Andzoology is the study of animals, astronomy the study of stars, and soon. Phenomena breed sciences.”

“Herbert Simon (1916-2001), in the course of a longand distinguished career in the social and behavioralsciences, made lasting contributions to manydisciplines, including economics, psychology, computerscience, and artificial intelligence. In 1978 he wasawarded the Nobel Prize in economics for his researchinto the decision-making process within economicorganizations. His well-known bookThe Sciences ofthe Artificial

addresses the implications of the decision-making and problem-solving processes for the socialsciences. “